Tyson started ducking and weaving the lasers, his armor heating up due to the near misses of the lasers. The snake swung it's tail and Tyson dived under it, receiving scratches all along his armor and a cut to the back of his head. Getting up and turning to the snake; Tyson flipped his gun to full auto and sprayed for three seconds before ejecting the magazine with rounds still left in it. Tyson watched as the bullets deflected and bounced off the snake and didn't bother with catching the magazine and instead loaded another as he started to run again.

Tyson then saw Rowan fire a beam at the snake and destroy a turret after being hit. Brian then healed his wound before hiding behind a tree. Okay he can fire beams at it and he had said he can blast through 12 inches of steel with a beam. I can make that work. Brian's power that he didn't reveal was that he can heal people. I'd rather have him have come out about that power earlier. As Tyson finished that thought the tree got hit by a couple of lasers and started to run towards the tree's previous location.

While heading over there Tyson looked back behind him to see the light user, Steven, stop the lasers and deflect them. This is starting to look good. Beyond Steven was a man dressed as a ninja throw three shurikun and Eric launch dirt spikes at the snake. I'll need to know more about their powers before I get a plan in motion but for now we need to regroup.

Tyson let out an extremely loud screech at the snake hoping to confuse any potential audio sensors in it before shouting, "Everyone regroup! If we split up we'll only loose! We have to work together!" Tyson reached the location where the tree used to be hoping to find that Brian guy alive.

Taryn laughed quietly at Levi's comment but kept her gaze trained on the fight. She hadn't planned to do much more than store the footage and data. But doing some sort of mashup for Christmas time review sounded like it could be fun. Taryn minimized several windows and hit two command keys to make the video feed change display modes. Multicolored lines began to trace objects and alphanumeric characters blinked into existence. Taryn looked up to compare what she was seeing on screen to what was occurring on the field.

The reflected laser bolts sent at the MechaSnake by Steven hit a few of the turrets that had targeted him. The nonlethal energy blasts fried and melted the turrets, rendering them inoperable. At the same time Steven's reflected laser bolts hit the snake, Tyrell's throwing stars bounced harmlessly off its glowing red eyes. A few laser turrets targeted Eric's dirt spikes, vaporizing all but one. The remaining spike embedded itself in the thinner part of its cobra-like hood, sending sparks and bits of severed wire flying from the 'wound'. The scream sent its way by Tyson caused the MechaSnake's audio detection instruments to overload, temporarily rendering it deaf and throwing off its targeting system. Despite its sudden handicap, two of its remaining operable turrets immediately took aim and fired at Eric while another shot at Tyson and Brian.

Brian was so worried about his poor performance on offense that he forgot to play on defense. The bolt came flying right at him and he had no time to move.

Oh f-AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The laser scored a direct hit on his left leg, blasting a huge chunk out of it. He tried to stand but it was barely hanging on, and he let the world know it. "FUCK! OH FUCK FUCKING OWWWWWW GOD DAMN IT! MOTHER FUCKING AHHHHHH! Fuck. Fuck. OK. OK. Let me se-HOLY FUCK! OH FUCKING SHIT! OH GOD! FUCK! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. OK. OK. OK.....OK. OK it should be fixing though. It should be- Oh fuck it still looks bad. But I guess it is working. Aw Fuck man!"

It was healing though. The flesh and bits of bone slowly started regenerating itself as he kept his leg as still as good. It slowly but surely grew back. The whole process took about 30 seconds but after it all, his leg was back as it was before, good as new.

"Fucking hell, man! That, ah! Man god damn! God and now the bloody things asleep. Mother...Damn." He tried walking over to where Tyson was, it took a second to get the feeling back in his leg, but it came back soon after. He made it to Tyson. "OK. I'm good, I think. So, someone want to take that fucking thing's other lasers out?"

Eric yelped out in pain. "Fuck." he said as he tried to avoid the shots but one hit him in the ankle and the other in his leg and headed over to Tyson and held his leg. "This is like when I got stabbed in the foot." he said sighing. "God." he said.

Alex laughed some watching the new recruits struggle with the snake as she takes another PP!. "Wow this has some kick to it." she said still not a big fan of the bleach but was starting to like it a bit more.

Constructing a giant shield around himself, Steven ran over towards Rowan, throwing him over his soldier, while ignoring his prostests. "If I die saving your ass, I swear I'll fuckin kill you," he screamed while dodging lasers. "Shit there's too many to reflect! We need cover...HEY! Eric! Make us some cover NOW! I'll armor it with a shield!"

Eric blinked and quickly put his hand on the ground. Using the dirty he turned it into an obsidian dome leaving behind a ditch where the dirt once was. "There that should give us some cover for the time being." he said not quiet sure of what to do next.

Alex raised an impressed eye brow. "When did he learn that? Much have been when I was gone. Wounder where he meet an alchemy teacher." she asked her self. She adjusted her setting position some to get a better view of what was happening. "Hmmm seems they may be getting this training after all. Better then my group did." she added.

As the dome rose, Brian finally noticed the source...and the injury. "Oh shoot man, you got hit too? Man darn thing's taking target practice on us. Here, hold on for a second, and don't move, OK? Very important you don't do that." He looked down at where the shots were. "Ugh, man. Well at least they got you small and clean. Not like me. All right, like I said, hold still."

Brian put his hands over Eric's wounds and concentrated for a few seconds. He could feel the holes closing up, it went a lot quicker for little holes like this. He couldn't be sure how Eric was feeling, but he figured it wouldn't be anything pleasant. Once he was satisfied he lifted his hands and the leg was healed.

Jason looked on at the battle, almost completely engaged in the battle.

"They're doing...pretty well. I'm surprised." He said, impressed at their advancements in teamwork. Picking up a Patriot Punch-filled coconut, Jason relinquished a small sip from the cup, immediately going into a coughing fit as a result.

"Fuck, this stuff is strong." He murmured, taking a sniff and quaintly having his nose hairs burned after.

"Well, nail polish and bleach does that." Erebus answered simply. As Jason began to wash down the bitter taste of the drink with soda, he heard Alex's iteration of the fight.

"Well, that's about right. Excluding Taryn, and Levi, the last year's rookies were damn mediocre...if I haven't stressed that enough..." He replied to her, quickly downing the soda before going to another.

"That's what you get for drinking when you're underage Jason," Garrus lectured to the younger man, shaking his head as he grabbed his seventh PP! and gulped it down. "I will say I do enjoy your list...it makes me laugh," he added as he giggled a bit, the PP!s clearly starting to affect him now as he watched the ongoing fight against the MechaSnake.

"Oh c'mon Garrus, i'm like, two years away from the legal drinking age. Besides...that stuff's like poison. I'm surprised no one hasn't keeled over yet." Jason debated back to Garrus before he was practically drowned by Alex.

Jason casually shook the access water from him with a smile before finishing his current can of (now watered down) soda.

"Well yeah, but you were like, a strung-up bitch starting out. Like seriously, I was a little scared to approach you or Kin because I'd think we'd end up fighting because I coughed the wrong way. So yeah, you've a vital part to the team now, but when you first started out...ehhh, not so much. I'm just saying." Jason replied, adding his own little disclaimer at the end to avoid any serious backlash.

"Well, i'm sure you too would be a lot happier if you and your significant other became 'Nympho Buddies for Life'." Erebus gibed with a snicker.

Levi nodded in approval at the new recruits' performance thus far. They seemed quick to form plans, to cooperate. It was nearly the polar opposite from what had happened with his own group last year. Save for a few, his fellow recruits were immature, irresponsible, confrontational, and refused to work together as a team. If it weren't for Taryn, Alex, and himself, their group would've been a complete and total bust. Watching the battle, Levi watched as Eric erected his fellow recruits some temporary shelter. "I wish the others were this cooperative during our training exercise," he said to Taryn. "They're getting the hang of it pretty quickly..."

Observing that its targets had erected a barrier, the MechaSnake focused all available firepower and fired upon the recruits' temporary shelter. However, with its nonlethal armaments, it was not making very much progress. The mechanical serpent's sensors analyzed the the dome that kept its targets out of its reach. It was made of obsidian, a relatively brittle material. As a result, the MechaSnake opted to go for a more direct option. The giant machine swung its tail and used it as a blunt weapon, smashing off a significant portion of the obsidian dome and exposing its occupants. It took the opportunity offered and aimed all available turrets down into the hole and began to charge them for another volley of shots.

"Huh, yeah, and who was it that was sorting out most of the fights?" Katie asked before raising her hand with a grin. "Hell, I took a freaking lightning bolt for Alex once. Kin was far too unreliable and volatile to be an effective part of the team. Plus she had her daughter running around - another concern of mine - and neither of them were within the acceptable age limit for applications, if I remember correctly."

"You arse! I could have handled myself perfectly fine," Rowan yelled at Steven before the MechaSnake smashed the dome down. "Oh, son of a..." he murmured as he realised that the mechanical monstrosity had them trapped inside the open-air dome. Thinking quickly, he ducked into what little cover was left, and shifted into Brian's appearance as he had planned, then stepped out into the open. Hopefully the identical copy would confuse the MechaSnake into targeting Rowan rather than the near-defenceless healer.

Tyson watched as most of the team had gathered together and make a temporary shelter for themselves. Okay. I think I have a plan that isn't total suicide. As soon as that thought finished the top of the shelter got smashed off and the snake could be seen charging its beams. Tyson screeched again then turned back to the group and barked an order to Steven, "Make a light shield and deflect the beams around the dome."

Tyson then went back to his previous thought started to speak. "I have a plan. It isn't as suicidal as it sounds and it could easily work. Eric I'm going to need you to change the medal armor on the snake to something weaker. We can then blast through the armor and that's going to be the easiest way to get to the hardware and shut that machine down. For this to happen we'll have to distract the snake from attacking Eric. Steven, Rowan, and myself will have to distract it. Brian we'll need you to stay back and move in when we get injured and heal us." Tyson finished the rant and let out a deep breath.

"Once the snake fires drop the dome and disperse. Eric pick your timing carefully and lets do this." Tyson finished speaking and waited for the next attack. I hope this plan works. Actually this plan will have to work.

The second screech from Tyson once again sent an overwhelming amount of audio feedback through the MechaSnake's audio sensors. Unable to compensate for the second overload, the machine's targeting system was significantly scrambled, leaving it unable to fire accurately for a few more seconds. Externally, the only sign of anything being wrong was the fact that it now seemed to hesitate.

Levi watched as the MechaSnake seemed to...freeze in place. Glancing over at one of the windows on Taryn's screen, he could see a new fluctuation of data begin to scroll across. He furrowed his brow. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. "Er...Taryn? I'm not sure what to make of all that, but it can't be good," he said, his eye still on the rapidly scrolling stream of characters.

"Great. OK. I can do distraction," Steven muttered to himself. Bracing himself against a wall, he faced the giant snake and constructed a solid dome around its head. "He's blind, but not forever." Looking back over at his new partner, he asked quickly, What's step two of this plan of yours? Please tell me it involves a giant 'off' switch."

"Aw...frak" Taryn muttered quietly as she rapidly minimized and maximized windows. She skimmed the lines that were appearing and automatically translated them. "Well they managed to mess up the sensors a bit..." she said. Out of habit Taryn hit the side of her computer lightly, as though it would 'fix' the dark red text.

"As he said, we wait for Eric to do something to the armour. With luck it'll be weaker, and we can damage its internal mechanisms," Rowan answered in Brian's voice. "Oh, er... this is Rowan speaking, just so we're clear." He shot another psychic bolt from his fingers to prove it, smashing a human-sized piece out of the obsidian dome. Huh. Seems it breaks easily, he thought, noting that the strength of the blast he had used was nowhere near enough to make a hole that large.

Figuring that it would be easier to have multiple holes from which to leave, rather than just the one, he proceeded to shatter the breakable wall in two other places, allowing everyone to scramble out from different exits.

"It looks like the snake has to charge up its turrets before it fires. After it attacks us again I'll head out through the hole on the right, and try to take out a couple of the turrets as I go. Brian, you should head the other way if you're gonna go someplace. Don't worry about healing me up, I'll be fine after I shift back. Concentrate on the others more than me."

Alex shrugged. "Yea I was a bitch then but Richard helped calm me down. Well so did my time in Tibet but hell what I was then isn't what I am now. Now I'm far less likely to even hit someone unless they truly have it coming." She said to Jason calmly then looked at Katie and Levi.

"Katie, I have to thank you for that. Kin would have killed me with that bolt and she almost did with what she hit me with. As for what's fighting the snake now, well I think we got a good bunch this round. Eric seems to be doing better then I expect from him." Alex said crossing her arms.

----------------------------

"Just let me get close enough to the snake I can make it tin easy." Eric said nodding and getting ready for the fight as he redid the done and adding more layers.

Dodging another savage swing of the beasts tail, Tyrell prepared to heed his fellow heroes call to retreat, for they were certainly not getting anywhere attacking all on their lonesomes. The Shadow's shuriken had proved useless against the mecha-snakes armored hide and simply pinged off harmlessly, if Tyrell wanted to have a chance at defeating the creature, he'd have to Chi-strike it, the only problem was getting close enough to perform the maneuver.

'Problem solved' thought Tyrell, his body already moving towards his destination with nigh-supernatural speeds. For The shadow had identified how he was going to dodge the creatures swings for long enough to be able to strike it. Jumping up upon one of the dirt pillars one of his fellows had created, The Shadow had only a few seconds to get his bearings upon it, before the snake demolished it with its ridiculously powerful armaments.

Leaping to another pillar, Tyrell again had only a few seconds before that second pillar was annihilated. However, as they say, the third pillar was lucky, as it had impaled the snake and just as Tyrell landed precariously upon it, The Shadow knew he would strike the killing blow.

The Ninja closed his eyes and leapt towards the snakes turned head, focusing all his consciousness and being into his right fist, the fist that he swung forwards toward his foe with such immense speed the air around it seemed to ripple.

The light shield surrounding the head of the MechaSnake made it impossible for the machine to attain a target lock on the trainees. For all intents and purposes, it was blind. Tyrell's strike connected with the side of the MechaSnake's 'head', causing a significant dent in the metal armor and destroying one of its eyes in an explosion of glass and sparks. The mechanical beast began swinging its head back and forth violently, launching Tyrell into the air. Its motion sensors still functional, the snake was able to aim a swing with its tail, slamming it into the airborne man like a baseball bat. The impact sent Tyrell flying into the freshly restored obsidian dome, shattering it instantly.

Levi furrowed his brow again as the live video feed from the MechaSnake suddenly became flooded with bright light. He looked up from the screen to the battle in the distance and saw that a light shield of sorts had been created around the machine's head, rendering it blind. "Smart move," he said aloud. Levi watched as Tyrell landed a powerful blow into the side of the MechaSnake's head. One of the windows from the video feed abruptly cut out into static. Going for the optics. Very nice, but that's not all this thing has. He winced a bit when he watched the snake send Tyrell flying into the dome the recruits had constructed. Training exercise or not, that has to hurt.

Tyrell was already unconscious by the time the snakes tail slammed into him, cracking atleast two of his ribs. The immense force and concentration required by the Chi-strike always meant the practitioner of the attack would suffer some after effects, from mild drowsiness to unconsciousness, The Shadow was currently among the latter. For while he had trained for many years up to this moment, he was still not a true master and his skills were still developing, so until he had trained his skills further, the Chi-strike would most likely have the same effect on his each time.

But as long as his team-mates eventually beat the snake, everything would be worth it. It was part of his philosophy, 'always look at the bigger picture and the end justifies the means, even when people were hurt'.

The dome exploded over Tyson's head as the last new recruit dressed as a ninja went flying through the obsidian cover destroying it. "It starts now people lets make this plan work!" Tyson shouted switching his gun to semi auto and firing three shots at the snake's body before running out to the right firing a shit every few steps. Tyson then looked up at the snakes head noticing someone had bashed part of it in. Okay, that's impressive. I hope they have a video of this so I can see how he did that.

The snake then swung it's tail low at Tyson causing him to jump. The tail lifted and struck Tyson's legs cracking and breaking off some of the armor as Tyson fell to the group. Still determined to keep the distraction up, Tyson fired blindly lifting himself off the ground. As Tyson started to run, extreme jolts of pain went straight up his legs almost causing him to fall over again.

"Brian, get Tyrell out of sight," Rowan yelled to the healer, noting the snake's wild thrashing around. He broke left in the opposite direction of Tyson, moving to circle around the snake and attack it from behind. He launched the occasional bolt up at the snake's armour, but the attacks had little effect other than leaving a small scorch mark on the metal. Evidently the armour was much tougher than the turret he had taken out earlier.

"It's nothing, Alex. You'd have done the same for me in a different situation," Katie answered, waving her hand as if to brush the comment aside. She sat up from her position on the hedge-couch, picked a soda out of the basket and opened it. Judging by the recipe of Patriot's cocktails, she was never going to even think about touching those. Nail polish remover and bleach... the latter at least was poisonous to regular humans when ingested.

"They seem to be doing pretty damn well, at least better than they were before," Garrus said with a slight slur, deciding that he had had enough PP!s and laid down on the blanket.

"They are doing spectacularly! They seemed to have come up with a plan, oh golly I hope they beat it. We haven't had the snake be actually beaten in awhile. Ohhh and then if they aren't roughed up enough I can join in!" Patriot said excitedly, jumping up and down and clapping his hands."Probably not Patriot...the last time we actually participated the new recruits weren't that roughed up and didn't learn the lesson but these guys are already doing much better," Garrus replied back to the excited Patriot.

"Aww but I want to beat up the noobs." Alex laughed some finishing her last PP! and sighed figuring she should not have any more and tossed the PP! aside breaking it in half with a whip of water from her finger tips.

---------------------

Eric took his chance to sneak behind the snake then jump on it's back putting his hands on the snake starting to turn it into tin. He knew he'd need sometime to fully change the snake over to tin. He's only hope was that the rest of his team could hold it off for long enough. He made some of the metal wrap around his legs and arms so he couldn't be throw off but if he was hit or the snake rolled over he was fucked.

Taryn glanced over at the enthusiastic Patriot. As she turned back to her computer, she whistled quietly at the new data that began to appear. Then a new window appeared with a few short lines of text.

Taryn looked out onto the field to see Eric had welded himself to the snake. "Uh oh..." she mumbled. She looked over at Levi and somewhat calmly asked. "The Doctor is in, right?"

On the field, the MechaSnake continued to writhe and toss its head almost angrily in an attempt to regain its optical sensing capability. The outer layer of armor beneath Eric's hands began to transmute from a darkened steel alloy to shiny tin. The transformation spread slowly. When the two areas beneath Eric's hands spread enough to combine, the snake's electrical defenses kicked in.

As part of the upgrade process Taryn had designed, programmed, and designated 'Static Shock'. Which was a defense mechanism designed to cause neuromuscular incapacitation. Beneath the layers of armor, thousands of thin metal wires were connected to individual circuits which, when the first phase activated, sent a series of high-voltage low-current electrical shocks up to the surface of the snake. Anything that was in contact with the snake at the time of activation was immediately, but temporarily, paralyzed. The second phase of the attack was a much stronger jolt that only activated if the snake continued to detect contact with its surface after a set period of time. The second phase boosted the voltage and amperage of the electricity to render opponents unconscious. Taryn had tested both phases herself, but due to her own electrical powers she had not experienced the full effects of either phase. Levi had been with her for the testing as a safety measure. Taryn had noted at the time that he backed up when she tested the second phase.

As Taryn focused on the combatants and the MechaSnake she lowered her computer to her side. Unwatched, and unnoticed, two new lines appeared.

Raw electricity flowed up through the snake's armor and spread out to every square inch of its outer surface. The areas of the MechaSnake that were tin slowed the current a mere millionth of a second. Strapped as he was to the snake, Eric's body was subjected to enough electricity to render a superhuman unconscious in the span of a millisecond.

"Right, doing that!" Brian replied as he moved over to where the "ninja" had landed. He hadn't really talked to him...or seen him for that matter, but if they were on a team, he would get him moved. It was a shame he could only heal physical wounds. Restoring consciousness was out of his grasp.

"Come on, bye. Here we go." He picked him up and draped him over his shoulder, bracing him with his hockey stick. Spotting the hole that Eric had created when he made the dome, he decided that place was as good as any at the moment, and after making his way there, he slowly lowered him into the trench. "OK, there, now you just wait until Eric finishes with the-" As he looked up he saw sparks shooting from the spot where he assumed Eric was. "Oh...oh shit, that can't be any kind of good there."

Tyson watched in horror as his plan backfired. Not only did the armor basically remain unharmed but it had an unforeseen defense that electrocutes people. It's been a while since physics or chemistry but I think this will work. Adrenalin started pumping as Tyson opened his mouth to the size of what a person normally would to whistle and started emitting sound waves at Eric. Tyson was increasing the frequencies rapidly looking for any vibrations of the tin. The tin vibrated for almost an instant and Tyson barely saw it. By this point a ringing filled Tyson's ears but he started going back over the frequencies he just passed at a slower speed until the tin started to vibrate rapidly. Tyson increased the decibel level causing the vibrations to intensify and break the tin off from the snake's armor.

As Eric fell to the group Tyson called out, "Someone get him and bring him back to Brian!" Tyson then started firing at the snake's hoping to draw it's attention so the retrieval could be successful. The previous ringing started to clear out and fatigue started to become more apparent to Tyson. I'm not going to last much longer than this but at least I won't wake up with a nasty headache like Eric. Tyson laughed a little to himself before switching mags.

Richard was simply sitting back and watching chaos reign as the newbies tried to fight the snake.

"I honestly hope they don't beat the snake. Last time anyone did it did not end well, but it seems they are learning the lesson so unless Garrus just wants to pummel the crap out of the new guys we probably won't have to resort to plan B." He said as he had switched from patriot punches which were honestly pressing his nanites to the limit to keep him from dying to soda to hopefully balance the pH a little.

-----------------------

Lillian was sitting back and watching without a word, the recruits were doing far better than she had expected considering the stories she had heard of the last batch. She made sure to keep an eye on Renton as he started to wander a bit after he had gotten used to Patriot's presence.

"Hey you two," Garrus said as he got up and stood next to Levi and Taryn, holding his aching head as he continued watching the fight, "I think they've done pretty well already. I'd say give it a few more minutes before turning off that snake...rather not have anyone too injured since we'll probably celebrate with a pool party once the Doctor fixes up the injuries. AND YOU STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!"

Patriot immediately stopped chasing after the teary-eyed Renton, having been trying to get the child to come to him before starting to go after the kid a bit too enthusiastically."It's all good Garrus! See? I'm backing away from him now...we'll have to take a rain check on me flying you around kid," Patriot whispered as he slowly backed away from the toddler, taking a seat back down on the edge of the picnic blanket and taking a sandwich out to eat.

"I'm watching you," Garrus said before turning back to Levi and Taryn, "So yeah...anyways."

Alex looked at Richard. "I can't say I agree with you Richard but I see your point. I want them to go through what I had to." Alex said softly kissing Richard's cheek then looked at Garrus.

"Ah yea a pool party, sounds nice. Hey remember the beach? Man that was a good time. I was the only woman there and trust me I didn't mind but there's no fucking way I'll do it again." she laughed some thinking about it and sighed. "But I will beat the crap out of that idiot the next time I see him." she added.

Rowan aimed one hand at the shinier tin of the snake's armour, launching another psychic bolt up at it as he ran around the back of the snake to grab Eric. He dragged the transmuter a few metres away from the monstrosity, before he carefully lifted Eric up and over one shoulder. With that, Rowan began to jog back to the hole in the ground, careful not to jolt or bump Eric as much as possible.

"Another one for you, doc," he grunted under Eric's weight before setting him down on the ground beside the unconscious Tyrell.